Activists to drop lawsuit over Aggie Square project in Oak Park after landmark agreement
The city of Sacramento, UC Davis and Oak Park-area activists announced they have reached a landmark agreement Tuesday that will allow University of California to launch a major development project on Stockton Boulevard while simultaneously investing more than an estimated $50 million with the city and others to improve the surrounding community.
The goal, the coalition said, is to assure that lower-income residents near the proposed $1 billion Aggie Square research center at Second Avenue and Stockton Boulevard will not be forced out of their homes by rising housing prices. The agreement includes significant public investment in new housing for lower-income residents.
The community group, Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, sued UC Davis last year, arguing UC and the city had not done enough to protect existing residents from gentrification as they planned Aggie Square.
The city, UC Davis and developer Wexford Science & Technology, however, recently finalized a “community benefits agreement” to invest in the community, including offering well-paying jobs with training for people from the surrounding community who do not have a college degree.
They presented that plan to the plaintiffs group last week, leading to negotiations and a multi-party agreement Tuesday evening.
“We are tonight moving from the posture of litigants to partners,” Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said in announcing the deal to the City Council. Steinberg said he will ask the council to review and vote on the settlement agreement in the next two weeks, which would pave the way for the lawsuit to be dropped.
He has called the Aggie Square project the most important economic develop project in Sacramento in years, expanding the city’s economic base by bringing private science tech and engineering companies to the city, as well as adding workforce training and housing for medical students.
The city plans to set up an infrastructure financing district on site that will allow an estimated $30 million in future added property taxes to be invested in site development.
“This is the beginning of a partnership with all of our communities,” said Councilman Jay Schenirer, who helped negotiate the settlement, along with Councilman Eric Guerra.
Steinberg said he would bring a city ordinance to the council soon that would commit the city to establishing similar community benefits agreements in other areas of the city when similar, major economy-boosting projects are proposed.
Gaby Trejo, a member of the SIWD group, said she and other activists are pleased and “hopeful” that the agreement will assure existing residents of the area will not get left behind or forced out of the area. Her group includes members of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association, Sacramento Housing Alliance, Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment and several other community groups.
“We are excited to ensure we create a community that is inclusive and allows all families to thrive,” she said, speaking to the City Council on Tuesday night.
Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela and some residents challenged an aspect of the agreement, saying they would like for it to nail down funding now and move quickly because houses in the area already are selling for high prices in a hot market, which could encourage more landlords to sell houses out from under existing renters. She suggested the city adopt polices that can help inhibit resident displacement in the short term.
“The vulnerability that residents are under is happening now and it will accelerate exponentially,” Valenzuela said. “Have we done everything we can as a city? ... Oak Park needs help now.”
The agreement calls for the city and Aggie Square developers to invest at least $50 million to be used to build affordable housing in adjacent neighborhoods. Much of that money may not be available to be invested immediately, but Steinberg said the city has $20 million available in city Measure U and housing funds now for affordable housing projects as soon as it can line up partnerships with private developers. He did not provide a timeline.
The agreement also sets up programs that assure at least 20% of jobs created by future businesses in the proposed tech and research center be filled by residents of nearby ZIP codes.
Another $5 million will be raised under the proposed community benefits partnership agreement to be invested in efforts to help current nearby residents from being forced out of their homes by gentrification. Half of that amount would come from UC Davis and the other half will be funded by philanthropic contributions.
The project, approved in November by the University of California Board of Regents and located adjacent to the UC Davis Medical Center campus, is expected to bring more than 3,600 jobs to the site. The plan is for four buildings on several blocks, including medical student housing, retail sites, business incubation and job training.
A member of the neighborhood group, Erica Jaramillo, said her group wants to assure that the benefits agreement brings “measurable, permanent improvements to the lives of affected residents, particularly those in low-income neighborhoods.”
Jaramillo said her group wants to see an oversight committee set up by her group’s board to meet quarterly with developers. That creates “an ongoing, regular accountability mechanism.”
Under the negotiated plan, her group will host community meetings to discuss ways of holding the city and UC Davis accountable.
This story was originally published April 7, 2021 at 5:00 AM.